Watermelon with Grandma

Good news!  I survived the cold and didn’t have to be rescued by the Cattlemen. Because of our tent location I didn’t even have to hear people up and packing at 4 am so I slept pretty well. You can imagine my surprise when I stumbled out of my tent at 5:15 to see that Gary and Ray had already packed up and were nowhere to be found. Ray said he was leaving early but I didn’t think it would be that early!

I hiked up the hill to the bathroom and located them getting ready to head out. Got to say goodbye as I was fairly sure I wouldn’t see them the rest of the day. The East coast lacrosse guys were heading out soon too so I bid them farewell too. 

As I got my tent packed I took a picture of Steve and Phil. Kate missed the sibling pic. The siblings were fun to hang with all week and provided some entertainment and good conversation this week. Hopefully I’ll see Phil when he heads to Muncie for volleyball. 

I also got a picture with Christopher and Jason. They nailed their first RAGBRAI and brought great energy all week. Can’t wait to meet up with them the next time I’m in Chattanooga. 

As I started riding it was a crisp morning and the sun was just coming up. The views today were absolutely incredible especially as we climbed higher because you could see the dense fog below. I tried to take pictures but they didn’t do it justice at all. I did get a good picture of the 6 roller blazers who did the week. Their adductors had to be on fire all week. This was the first time I saw them all riding in a line together. 

Elgin was the first stop of the day. I had a cinnamon roll to support the fire station!  I got my picture taken with a wooden bicycle in front of the 1900 Elgin cycling photo. It was a good first stop of the morning. 

From Elgin we headed to Gunder and to get there we had to climb “Gunder mountain”. Every time you thought it was over you’d make a bend and keep moving up. Little did we know that was a precursor of what was to come. I guess I should have stopped at the top of hill because my college teammate April’s nieces were selling snacks. I didn’t find that out until after I went by. Based on the crowd of people stopping to catch their breath I think they probably did pretty well on their sales!

I saw Kate on the side of the road on one of the climbs, she had dropped her chain but had gotten it back on. She was trying to find a time to re-enter the road. It’s hard enough to get back on your bike mid climb…it’s nearly impossible to get started up a hill mid climb with 100s of other cyclists. The brothers were waiting at the top of the hill and I let them know she had an issue but was on her way. 

Not too long after Gunder was the last Iowa Craft beer stop of the week. I wasn’t going to get a beer but I thought maybe I could snag one last breakfast brat. The line was long and the sign said “leftovers”!  So I think it was a mystery line of what you would get. I decided to bypass the food and just make this a bathroom stop. I got to see lots of people pick up their “Earned it shirt” for making beer stops every day all week. The proudest “earned it” though was this young kid. He was so pumped to get his t-shirt. I think he drank a lot of root beer this week!!! If his smile is half as big when he gets to the river as it was when he got his shirt he’d light up all of Lansing. As I was leaving I ran into Jim from camp and he took my picture. Not sure if or when I’ll ever see those pictures, but I bet that was a good one with bikes in the background. 

Then we ended up in Postville. As we came into town I saw a kids lemonade stand that said freeze pops and lemonade. I hadn’t gotten a freeze pop all week, so I couldn’t pass this up. Well Damien, Danny, and their sister were serving up cold lemonade and not so frozen freeze pops. Their sales pitch went something like this, “we have lemonade or freeze pops. The freeze pops are melted so they aren’t really freeze pops. Do you want a freeze pop?”  Of course I opted for the melted freeze pop. At that point Damien decided that I should have lemonade too. He was hustling and busy prepping for customers!  

Postville has a very diverse population. Who would think you’d see a Kosher market, Islamic center, and a Somalian restaurant all within two blocks of each other in a small Iowa farming community?!?  It was a nice change of pace to see the different ethic foods. The line for Somalian meat pies was super long so I opted for a pork burger. Ironically their booth was set up right outside the Kosher market. Maybe could have planned that a bit better. I also had a piece of peach pie. I had thought I’d wait for pie in Waukon, but decided that I needed to get my last piece just in case I didn’t have the opportunity later. That proved to be quite fruitful. I got my picture taken with the big bull and then headed out for the 18 miles to Waukon. 

Vince I took a picture of the old fire truck in Postville just for you!!  

These miles were hard!  The hills just kept coming. I don’t know how long the one climb was but it was way longer than Gunder mountain. I’d say it lasted at least 2-3 miles. I could look it up on my Garmin. I can’t remember if it was this one or one of the first of the day, but some guy had a bubble machine on the back of his bike. The bubbles were a nice distraction to the burn building in the quads as we grinded up the hill. 

As we came into Waukon I got to see the giant cowboy and bull. This was always a sign we were close to grandma’s house when I was a kid. Once I saw the tall cowboy I knew we were close. He’s undergone a few paint jobs in his life but he’s at least as old as I am so it was good to still see him there. The same can be said for the rocket ship at the playground in the park. A little childhood nostalgia to welcome me into Waukon. 

I knew that I would be making at least one stop in Waukon and that would be for ice cream at the dairy. I didn’t care how long I’d have to wait. They were selling fried cheese curds and grilled cheese outside. Giving away free chocolate milk and you could get ice cream inside. I got my ice cream in a waffle cone and enjoyed it outside by Anna the cow and some of my closest RAGBRAI friends. The night before I had told my parents to bring a cooler because I was going to buy some cheese curds if I could get them in my pocket. After I finished my ice cream I went back in to see what size bag of curds I could shove in my back pocket. Turns out I could get 2 lbs in my one pocket. I probably could have gotten another bag, but those 2 lbs were heavy!  Carrying them the next 20 miles wasn’t going to be all that fun. The things you do for some fresh squeaky cheese!

Leaving Waukon led to more incredible views. I had hoped to see the Perkins family on my trip through town this year and to get some cookies from Jackson, but they were gone on a trip to Hawaii. I decided though that they have some of the best views from their house!  Not too far out of Waukon was the East Paint Church. I had planned to stop there since there is a memorial bench for my grandma there. What I didn’t plan was getting watermelon. The first watermelon I had all week happens to come at the East Paint Church. So I sat on the bench and had watermelon with grandma. A gentleman joined us so I told him he was sitting in grandma’s bench. 

The rest of the trip was pretty easy with very few hills. Way different than the last time we went from Waukon to Lansing via Harpers Ferry. Riding into Lansing included an almost 5 mile descent. It was a nice break to the climbs we had done earlier in the day. As we came into Lansing the Air Force team was lining up and cheering us on. It’s always a fun feeling to ride into town with people cheering us on. People who are in awe of what you accomplished for the week. 

I waited in line for the traditional tire dip and flip picture. I’ll give the Lansing group credit they had a very efficient photo assembly line thing going and they got people our quickly and efficiently. It was one of the best photo dip lines I have experienced. 

After I dipped I found my way to our baggage trucks. My parents were waiting there with Murray and Boomer. They got lots of pets and loving from strangers who had missed their dogs this week. Lansing is a town of 968 people so bringing in 20000+ riders, support staff, and people picking up riders made this River town quite the zoo.  Dad said he will NEVER drive my support vehicle all week after seeing the craziness of Lansing. The bus hadn’t left yet so I got to see Gary and Ray one last time. I also got to see the siblings before we took off. They all got to meet Murray too, so that was good. Steve said he had been missing his doggy! 

Overall for the day I rode 65.4 miles with 3025 ft of climb. Which means for the week I had 471 miles. Another RAGBRAI complete and thankful for no crashes, mechanical, or medical issues. Others weren’t as lucky so you always have to count your blessings when you make it through this week. 

I also have to give a massive shout out to the Fah family for being the ones who moved our camp each night and ran everything in our charter. We had food and snacks every day when we finished, pizza on Thursday , s’mores, and positive vibes all week. Every morning they would play music, greet you with a smile and encourage you in the day. They are genuinely the nicest people and make you feel like you are part of their family. I’m not sure what I’ll do tomorrow when I don’t have Jamey telling me “have fun storming the castle!” as I left camp every morning. We even have a camp dog, so Jazzmin gets and gives lots of puppy love all week! They really make the week enjoyable and are happy to help in anyway that they can. 

My biscuits are officially burnt!!  I still need to unpack all my stuff and do laundry, but this 2022 RAGBRAI has come to a close. Next year with be the 50th RAGBRAI so it should be good one. Until then!!